I keep hearing these horror stories about people spending inordinate amounts of time in A & E because there are no beds available on the wards. Their experiences remind me of something I went through, and the dilemma those of us who strongly support the NHS find ourselves in when things go wrong. Should we be too vocal in our complaints when we know the enormous pressure the service is under? Isn't that why mistakes are made? And with the underlying ideological antipathy to the NHS that still exists on the Right, are we playing straight into the hands of those who would privatise the service at the drop of a hat if we make its shortcomings too obvious?
I don't remember exactly when it was; so much has happened to me this year, I get the chronology of some events mixed up. But there was a time when I spent twelve hours lying on a trolley in A & E because they didn't have a bed for me. The cancer in my bowel hadn't been sorted out; I hadn't had my stoma created. So I was particularly prone, without being overly graphic, to sudden and bloody discharge from my backside. And that's exactly what happened because I was put behind a screen and couldn't get the attention of any of the nurses moving rapidly back and forth along the corridor. The screen was there for my benefit, undoubtedly, but it didn't work out that way. I had to suffer the embarrassment of a nurse probably 35 years younger than me cleaning my bum because I couldn't get to the toilet.
That wasn't all. After twelve hours they found a bed for me, and when the porter wheeled me there an extremely irritated nurse said they'd been waiting for me for ten of the twelve hours I'd been lying in the corridor.
'I'm so sorry,' he said, 'you shouldn't have had to go through that.'
When I was well enough I thought about making a complaint but I didn't do it. I considered making a complaint about the junior doctor who told me I was terminal before all the treatment options had been explored, and I didn't do that either. On both occasions it was for the reasons outlined above. But when I think about it now, and when I think about some of the media stories and the experiences of family members and friends in hospital, I kind of wish I had made a complaint now, or at least I wish I'd been more public about what happened to me.
We have no control over the ideologues who want to privatise the NHS, and presently, at least, it seems there is still broad support for the service in the country, although the approval rating amongst the public is said to have slipped post-Covid. And my suggestion that mistakes happen because staff are under intolerable pressure is unarguable, as far as I'm concerned. I don't want to throw anybody to the wolves. But I don't want vulnerable patients to face double-figure A & E waits or misdiagnosis or discharge to the wrong home address either; and if we never talk about how the NHS is failing, either on a patient level or a structural level, how is it ever going to improve?
Bruce Hodder
I guess if we try to think of our observations more as ‘Reports of Personal Experience; Opportunities for Improvement’ rather than ‘Complaints’ it is more encouraging to speak up! But then you’re so vulnerable in the circumstance at the time you’re reluctant to ‘Bite the Hand that Feeds’ as it were!
ReplyDeleteAlmost a couple of years ago now I presented at A&E with classic symptoms of a heart attack and was asked to take a seat in the waiting area. Three and a half hours later (I know this as we had to extend our parking ticket), by which time I was feeling quite well again, I was eventually called through to triage where the nurse remarked “Your blood pressure is a bit high!”. After yet another wait in the waiting area I was called through to the assessment area where an ECG and blood tests were taken. I then had to sit by the nurses station whilst they processed everything. The doctor eventually reappeared and said I could go home though he reconsidered and said he should probably wait for the blood test results first. Next thing I knew they appeared with a wheelchair, refused to let me walk anywhere, rushed me through to Resus and said “Oh, you’ve had a heart attack!”.
Four days, two stents and balloon angioplasty later I just thank the Lord I didn’t arrest during the long and uncomfortable wait. But the good old NHS did eventually come to my rescue and I am so thankful for that too.
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ReplyDeleteI like the idea of reframing how you look at a complaint. Reports of personal experience such as you've provided and I've provided are essential in improving the service. It's how the NHS will evolve and get better. I'm confident it will too, however deep the present crisis might be. The majority of the public only talk it down because they believe in it and expect it to live up to its promise. I'm encouraged to hear that there is work being done in this regard specifically with cancer - that is, gathering accounts of patient experience. I hope to get involved in that, as my participation has been requested, but I'll say more when I know more about it.
ReplyDeleteYour experience sounds rather harrowing. I'm glad you got a good result in the end.